Tourism bureau's fate is uncertain

DANBURY - The governor's proposal to phase out regional tourism boards has local officials concerned about the impact on local events, including the Connecticut Film Festival.

"Anything that impacts the

Visitors Bureau
will have an impact on events in our community," said
Andrea Gartner
, the executive director of CityCenter. "They've helped us in the past with a wide variety of events, including Paddle Days, the
Special Olympics
and the film festival."
While the events are great for the community, Gartner said, they also bring people into the city. Those people spend their money at local hotels, restaurants and stores.
Tom Carruthers
, director of the film festival, said he is concerned about the future of a $30,000 grant he applied for through the state

Commission of Culture and Tourism
.
While the festival could still go on without the grant, he said, the money would allow him to take the festival to a higher level than he could without the funding.
He added that he's also worried about the impact to the entire economy. A study done in recent years shows tourism brings about $9 billion in personal income to state residents annually and puts about $1.7 billion into state and local government coffers, he said.
Gov.
M. Jodi Rell
proposed in her budget released Tuesday to combine the state tourism commission with the state
Department of Economic
and Community Development.
Officials said the proposal also calls for phasing out the five regional tourism bureaus that provide marketing and other services for the industry.

Jim Whitney
, director of the
Northwest Connecticut Convention
and Visitors Bureau, said while he has yet to review the governor's entire proposal "it appears that the regional entities as we know them will be phased out."
He said the directors of the regional bureaus will meet next week to further review the governor's proposal, which he stressed is still a proposal and not set in stone.
"There is a recognition out there that these are difficult times, but tourism is a revenue generator, not an expense," he said.
Whitney added that because the film festival applied for its grant during the current fiscal year, he doubts it would be affected by the governor's proposal.